The records are ranked by sales in the most authoritative chart of the UK's top-selling singles to have been issued.

Compiled by the Official Charts Company to mark the 60th anniversary of the singles chart, the list features a total of 123 records that have sold more than one million copies since the chart began in 1952.

It is topped by Elton John's double A-side Something About The Way You Look Tonight/Candle in the Wind, which was released in the aftermath of the 1997 death of Diana, Princess of Wales and sold 4.9m copies in the UK.

At the other end of the chart, in 123rd place and just scraping past the million mark, is When We Collide by X-Factor winner of two years ago Matt Cardle.

Since the NME published the first singles chart on 14 November 1952 – with Here in My Heart by Al Martino at No 1 – more than 32,000 records have appeared on it, making those 123 million-sellers an elite group.

But that total represents a huge leap from the 76 singles that had passed the million mark just 10 years ago, when the chart turned 50. Contrary to popular perception, sales of singles are booming like never before, says Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company.

"There's been a disproportionately huge increase of million-sellers – over 60% within the last 10 years," Talbot said. "The chart was really struggling then, but now we're back in the era of the super-hit."

Last year some 178m singles were sold in the UK, while the projected figure for this year is 190m. At that rate, this decade will eclipse the 90s as the most successful ever for sales. Ten singles have already reached the million mark, including Adele's Someone Like You and, most recently, Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye featuring Kimbra.

This success is attributed to the advent of digital downloads, after sales slumped to 31m in 2003 – the lowest level since the 1950s. As bricks and mortar record shops have gone to the wall, the advent of broadband internet and digital services such as Apple's iTunes, Amazon, Tesco.com and Spotify has revitalised the industry. Sales of physical formats now account for considerably less than 1% of singles sales, with downloads monopolising the market.

Tim Ingham, editor of trade paper Music Week, said: "You don't see stores selling singles on the high street any more and older music fans still mourn the demise of Top of the Pops, so there's sometimes an incorrect perception that the singles market is struggling. The picture couldn't be more different."

The contrast with the albums market, where sales fell by nearly 14% in the first half of 2012, is stark. "Part of the difference between the past and now is that today's record buyers will cherry pick the songs they like best from a record – they won't necessarily want to buy all the tracks that make up an album."

The authors of a new book profiling those hits, The Million Sellers, published by the Official Charts Company, point out that in 1964, a 7" single cost 6s 8d – the pre-decimal equivalent of 33.3p. However, if the price in 1964 was adjusted for inflation, the cost of a single today would be £5.84, whereas most downloads are just 99p.

The digital era has also brought old records back to life. Singles including Julie Covington's Don't Cry for Me Argentina (a No 1 hit in 1976) and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick by Ian Dury and the Blockheads (a chart-topper in 1979) came close to selling a million copies physically before being deleted, but have finally reached the magic number now thanks to digital sales.

The first record to sell a million copies was Bill Haley & His Comets' Rock Around the Clock in 1955 and the Beatles have had six million-sellers.

The average million seller was released in the mid-80s, is most likely to be by a group or duo (almost 60% are) and has a playing time of three minutes and 46 seconds.